The two teachers at the Reunion are L-R Mrs Sheila Mellor [nee Worrall] and Miss Doris Bennett. The Reunion took place at the school in August 2002.

Holy Trinity must be one of the oldest schools in Hyde, if not the oldest. My father, born in 1903, and his older brother [1895] both attended, and a room in the school was used for worship services prior to the opening of the church in 1874. Incidentally, Uncle William Ollerenshaw was killed in France in 1917, aged 22, and his name appears on the Roll of Honour memorial in the school hall, as well as the one inside Holy Trinity church. Holy Trinity was chosen as the school for me because of the family connection although, living in Kensington Street, I was the only kid in our neighbourhood who went there.

When I started at Holy Trinity at Easter 1950, the school was very much controlled by the church, and religious instruction was a priority for all pupils - the then vicar, Mr Boulton, visited the school at least once a week and we recited the catechism, 10 commandments and various psalms parrot-fashion every day after assembly. On Ascension Day [always a Thursday] Mr Boulton would come down to the school and we all walked back up to the church with him for a worship service, after which we were allowed the rest of the day off!

Looking back, the school buildings were then quite antiquated. The room which housed the "babies class" [reception as it is now] was a huge, dividable space, situated on the Higham Lane side and which had been used originally for worship services prior to the opening of the church in 1874. Most memorable of all though were the toilets. Situated at the top of the playground was a single storey stone building which was divided into two on the inside and which housed 5 cubicles on either side, one for the girls and one for the boys. There was no flushing mechanism from within - the caretaker, Mr Swindells, operated that from his den in the school cellar and woe betide anyone who was occupying the throne at the time of the great flush! Similarly, toilet paper was not available in the cubicles - the roll hung on a hook in the cloakroom and you had to remember to take your supply with you before leaving the building.

The teachers were quite a mixed bunch - all six of them. Mrs Lowe had the reception class, then Mrs Hibbert, Miss Armitage, Mrs Mellor, Miss Bennett and Mr Birch, the head, who later left and went to be head of St George's. He was replaced by Mr Bentley, who didn't stay very long and who was succeeded by the school's very first headmistress, Miss Joyce Rawlinson. She was a lady not to be messed with, and the level of discipline in the school improved almost from day of her arrival.

In 2002 we held a reunion in the school which was a great success. Several former teachers attended, including Miss Bennett and Mrs Mellor from my era.

5 comments:

A big thank you to Susan for all the memories and pictures, and of course her time. I must apologise for the wait, I suffered a mental block on this post... and Nancy came to the rescue and finished this off. So a big thank you to Nancy as well.

A huge thank you to Tom and Nancy for putting this post together, and to Dave for his photo of the school taken from the churchyard. I had no idea how much information was packed in here but I hope it stirs up memories for a lot of people and we get some interesting comments. Names to fill in the gaps on the photos especially welcome!

There is now a Facebook group for Holy Trinity School. It can be accessed by entering Gee Cross Holy Trinity C of E Primary School, Hyde. If you went there or have family connections or, indeed, any interest in the school, please join.

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Tom, Dave, Paul and I would like to say thank you to everyone for contributing to this blog in some small way - even if that means just reading it! It's been more of a success than we could ever have dreamt of and that's all down to you ! It was our intention to get Hyde "on the record" as it were and it seems to be heading in the right direction. We are very proud of Hyde and would like it's history to live on!